[ That's... that's an insane plan. You can't control it. Once it's out, it won't distinguish between friend and enemy. It'll consume everything. ]
"Not if I only let it out for one second." Krad's voice was ice-cold now, his fear crystallizing into resolve. "Not if I point it at her and slam the door shut before it can do anything else."
[ The probability of successfully controlling a complete awakening for exactly one second is--- ]
"Zero point something percent. Yeah. I'm getting used to those odds."
Barbara was moving now, circling closer, sensing something had changed in her prey.
"Whatever you're planning won't work, vessel. You're mine, your captain is mine... your power will be---"
"Captain." Krad's voice cut through her monologue. "When I give the signal, everything you have... understood?"
"Crystal... partner."
Barbara lunged.
[ Skill Activated: Evade ]
[ Mana: 24% ]
Krad flickered left. The afterimage dissolved as Barbara's strike passed through it. But she was already tracking his real position, her wings adjusting mid-flight.
[ Skill Activated: Evade ]
[ Mana: 16% ]
Another blur. Another afterimage. Krad appeared behind her, but she twisted impossibly fast, her claws raking the air where his throat had been a microsecond earlier.
[ Skill Activated: Evade ]
[ Mana: 8% ]
The world was slowing down now. Krad could feel his perception sharpening, his body moving on pure instinct. Everything was crystal clear—every movement, every possibility, every fraction of a second.
Barbara was smiling. She thought she had him. Thought he was panicking, burning through his remaining charges in desperation.
She had no idea what was coming.
"Now!" Krad roared.
Behind Barbara, Mist moved. It shouldn't have been possible. His body was more curse than flesh now, the countdown above his head showing [ 00:01:23 ]. But somehow, impossibly, he surged to his feet. His hand shot out, grabbing Barbara's wing, the skeletal, cursed thing that radiated corruption.
And he pulled.
Barbara shrieked, not in pain but in shock. For just a moment, three seconds, exactly as promised... she was off-balance, her attention split, her defenses oriented the wrong direction.
Three seconds. That's all Krad needed.
[ Skill Activated: Evade ]
[ Mana: 0% ]
[ Warning: Mana Exhaustion ]
[ System Safeguards Failing ]
[ Moon Eater Power Activating ]
Krad appeared directly in front of Barbara's face, inside her guard, so close he could see his reflection in her hollow eyes.
And behind those eyes, he saw it... the Moon Eater stirring, waking, rising from whatever dark place he'd locked it away. He felt the cage inside his soul crack, then shatter. Power flooded through him like black fire, ancient and terrible and hungry.
"Just one second," he hissed through gritted teeth. "That's all I'm giving you."
The Moon Eater's presence exploded outward. For one perfect, terrible second, Krad's body wasn't entirely his own. His eyes turned silver, then black, then something else entirely, the color of the void between stars. His fist drew back, and it trailed darkness that consumed the light around it.
Barbara's eyes went wide with recognition and terror. "No. No! You can't---"
"Devour."
The word came from Krad's mouth, but it wasn't his voice. It was older... the voice of something that had existed long before the concept of mercy or restraint.
His fist shot forward.
The impact didn't make a sound. There was no explosion. Instead, there was silence. The attack struck Barbara's chest, and for a moment, nothing seemed to happen.
Then she started to unravel.
It began at the point of impact, her cursed form simply ceasing to exist, atom by atom, being consumed by something that operated on rules beyond physical law. The effect spread like cracks in glass, running through her body, through the shadows that made up her essence, through the centuries of accumulated power and stolen life force.
"No!" Barbara's scream was one of pure existential terror. "I won't, I can't... this isn't possible!"
But it was. For one second, exactly one second, as promised... the Moon Eater fed. And nothing that existed in this realm or any other could stand against it when it was truly hungry.
[ CRITICAL HIT: 9,999 Damage ]
[ Enemy Status: ERASING ]
Barbara thrashed, her wings flailing, her claws desperately trying to strike back. But there was nothing to strike. The power that consumed her existed in a space between existence and void.
"Buddy!" Krad roared, feeling the Moon Eater starting to turn its attention elsewhere. He could feel it searching for more... for Mist, for the ruins, for everything. "Shut it down! Now!"
[ Attempting... emergency protocols... accessing... done! ]
[ Emergency System Override ]
[ Forced Containment Activated ]
[ Moon Eater Power Sealed ]
The darkness snapped back into Krad like a rubber band pulled too tight. He screamed as it tore through him in reverse, being forced back into whatever prison held it. His eyes returned to normal, his body became his own again.
He collapsed to his knees, gasping.
Before him, Barbara's form was still disintegrating. She reached out with a skeletal hand, her face a mask of disbelief.
"How... how did you..." Her voice was fading, unraveling along with the rest of her. "Centuries... I survived... centuries..."
"You picked the wrong prey," Krad managed to gasp out. "That's all."
Barbara's laugh was bitter, broken. "Perhaps... perhaps I did..." Her eyes found his one last time. "But mark my words, vessel... that power within you... it will consume you in the end. They always do..."
Then she was gone. Not defeated... simply erased, as if she'd never existed at all. The corrupted energy that had filled the chamber dissipated like morning mist. The oppressive weight lifted. Even the ruins themselves seemed to breathe easier.
DING!
[ Victory! ]
[ Barbara, The Cursed Elf Fairy - Eliminated ]
[ Experience Gained: 75,000 ]
[ Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! ]
[ Title Acquired: Lunar Vessel ]
[ Warning: Title Contains Unknown Effects ]
But Krad wasn't paying attention to any of that. He spun around, his exhausted body barely responding, and his heart seized in his chest.
[ 00:00:47 ]
Forty-seven seconds. Mist had forty-seven seconds left.
"No, no, no." Krad crawled toward his friend, his legs refusing to work properly. "Captain! Stay with me! We won! The curse should---"
But the countdown kept ticking. [ 00:00:43 ]. Barbara was gone, but whatever she'd done to Mist remained.
"Why isn't it stopping?!" Krad grabbed Mist's shoulders. His friend's eyes were barely open, the black veins covering almost his entire body now. "Buddy! Why isn't the curse lifting?!"
[ I... I don't know. The curse should have broken when she died. Unless... ]
The system's voice was shaking.
[ Unless it wasn't tied to her death. Unless she set it to run its course regardless. Unless--- ]
"Then break it! You're the system! Override it! Do something!"
[ I can't! This curse exists outside my parameters! I have no access to--- ]
[ 00:00:29 ]
"Damn it!" Krad's hands were shaking. "There has to be a way! I didn't go through all that just to watch you die anyway!"
Mist's hand weakly grabbed Krad's wrist. When he spoke, his voice was barely a whisper. "Hey... partner... not your fault..."
"Shut up! Don't talk like that! I'll figure something out! I always figure something out!"
"You did... good." Mist's bloodied smile was genuine. "Better than... expected... honestly."
[ 00:00:17 ]
Tears were streaming down Krad's face now. "Captain, please. Just hang on, there has to be---"
And then he felt it. That presence, still there, still awake despite the system's containment. The Moon Eater, curious now, interested in the drama unfolding.
It whispered to him.
I could save him.
"No." Krad shook his head violently. "I'm not making a deal with you."
Not a deal... A gift, just this once. Because you amused me.
"I don't want your gifts! I don't want anything from you!"
Even if the alternative is watching your friend die?
[ 00:00:09 ]
Mist's eyes were closing. His breathing was almost nonexistent.
"Damn you," Krad whispered. "Damn you both. If I accept... if I let you help, what's the price?"
No price. But you will owe me, vessel. And one day, when I call that debt due, you will answer. Do we have an accord?
[ 00:00:05 ]
Krad looked at Mist's face. At his captain, who'd believed in him even when the odds were impossible. Who'd called out Barbara's lies. Who'd given everything in those final three seconds.
"Fine." The word tasted like ash. "Save him."
As you wish.
Krad felt the Moon Eater stir. But this time, it wasn't violent. This time, the darkness that emerged was almost gentle. It flowed from Krad's hands into Mist's body, seeking out the curse that ravaged him.
And it devoured it.
The black veins receded. The corruption fled. The countdown above Mist's head flickered, stuttered, then stopped at [ 00:00:02. ]
Then it began to rise.
[ 00:00:03... 00:00:04... 00:00:05... ]
The timer reversed, climbing back up, and with each second, Mist's breathing grew stronger. The color returned to his face, his wounds began to close.
At [ 00:00:30 ], the timer vanished completely.
DING!
[ Curse Removed ]
[ Status Effect: Death Countdown - Nullified ]
[ Slayer: Slayer Mist - Recovering ]
Mist's eyes snapped open, clear and aware. He sucked in a huge breath, coughing and gasping. "What... what the hell... what did you..."
Krad collapsed beside him, utterly spent. "Don't ask. Just... don't ask."
"Did we... win?"
"Yeah." Krad's laugh was half-sob. "Yeah, we won."
"Cool." Mist's grin was weak but genuine. "Told you... I wouldn't let you... pull that hero crap."
"You literally grabbed a cursed death fairy to buy me time."
"Details."
They lay there in silence for a moment, both too exhausted to move, too relieved to care.
[ Ahem. ]
The system's voice chimed in, back to its cheerful tone.
[ Congratulations on not dying, Yo~! That was a statistical anomaly of the highest order! You should feel very proud! ]
"Buddy," Krad groaned. "Please shut up."
[ But I have so much data to share! For instance, did you know your heart rate peaked at 187 beats per minute? And you came within 0.3 seconds of permanent death! Isn't that exciting? ]
"I will find a way to delete you."
[ No you won't! I'm essential! Also, you have seventeen unread notifications, three level-up bonuses to claim, and---oh, this is important, a mysterious debt to an ancient cosmic entity. ]
Mist turned his head to look at Krad. "Did you... make a deal with that thing?"
"To save your life? Yeah."
"That was stupid."
"Probably."
"Thanks, though."
"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't ever mention it."
They both started laughing, the kind of slightly hysterical laughter that comes after brushing way too close to death. Above them, the ruins began to stabilize, the corrupted energy finally dispersing completely.
Somewhere deep inside Krad's soul, the Moon Eater settled back into slumber, satisfied for now.